Would you like fries with that?
by pokerfacejones
Summary: Sorry, I didn't know what to name this story. Goes by movie. Dedicated to my friend, Christina. XX HIATUS//discontinued?
1. 3:47 am

**I really appreciate you just reading this right now, I mean, it makes me happy that my story might have interested you...maybe even a little? Hehe. -nervous laugh- Um, anyway. I thought i'd write an ironman story because, me and my friend have recently been obsessed with it. And I thought making my own would be a good idea, you know, after reading some for myself? So, this is just for fun. And I'd really like reviews. As long as I get one good review each chapter, I'll continue. Heh, I know i'm cheap like that. But even one good word makes me feel good. So, no review, no story. One review, one more chapter...and on. You understand? Do you? Aliright then.**

**Dedication- Christina 3 :D My song singing underwear wearing buddy.**

**"..I am ironman..nanananana...yes i am..."**

_--_

_The light overtook everything he could see. Which wasn't much through the space between his fingers, as his hand shielded his face. He didn't understand what was going on at first, though he recognized the familiar sound of bombs, rumbling off in the distance. The nearby distance, in fact, all around him for that matter. Before, there was as a casual conversation, a photo-op. Then now he could hardly see the remainder of soldiers in the 'Fun-V' along him. Another blast, and him trying to somehow flee the premesis...kind of a stupid idea really. There he was, all alone, beside a rock as a small thing fell beside him. __**Stark Industries**__ it read. And Tony knew better than to stick around, since it was his little toy anyway. _

_The darkness that once closed on him, opened up, revealing a cave-like place. He didn't understand why he was there in the first place. He could have been on his flight home to New York by then. He didn't exactly know the time of that precise moment either, nor day. It could have been days since he'd been out, he just wasn't sure. _

_"And in other news, weapons engineer Anthony Stark, head of Stark Industries,has still yet to be found after an attack on his vehicle while presenting the 'Jericho' missle in Afghanistan early last week. Stark was last seen in a vehicle carrying him and a few soldiers when an booby trap set off, there are still no signs of him, but military officials say they are doing the best they came to bring Mr. Stark home..E-" the newcaster's voice immediatly muted; a picture of Tony hovering off in the right top corner of the television. It seemed like that's all that was on the T.V. It was strange, staring at the television and reliving something you just went through. I don't mean recently, I mean JUST went through.Tony lowered his brows, staring helplessly at the television screen. It was quite impossible how he could have been there, sitting on the cough in the living room, watching this all on the television. He didn't understand this at all. He remembered asking Jarvis to quiet the T.V. up, which explained the muting of the sound. He brought his hands up to his face, letting his face fall right into his palms. He looked like a mess; as if he went crazy. The look on his face could have made you think he went insane, murdering every being out there. But, that wasn't the case. Tony wasn't as crazy as the people had thought him to be, at least he dind't believe himself to be so. It'd been a what, second, since he'd been back? It didn't make sense. One moment happy, the next in a attack, then back into the safety of his home._

_Shakingly, he grabbed a hold of the remote lying to the side of him. His trembling finger pressed down on the button that had an arrow on it, reading __**CH.**__ The 'CH' of course stood for 'channel', as he slowly began to change the station. He went up one, and again another reporter began to tell about him. He saw it in the captions on the bottom of the screen, following the reporter's words. "...has yet to be found after an attack.." It was a different lady, though she had her hair up in the same manner as the first. And she semmed to be saying the exact same words as the first. He shook his head, going up one again, to reviel a man explaining the same occurances. It happened on every exact channel, until he reached the TV Guide network. The scrolling words describing the shows on at the moment, and moments to come. On top was two people talking about something other than him; fashion. It was that one weird look-alike show, when they turned normal people into celebrity look alikes. He stared down at the scrolling words; everything was about him. He sighed, confused-like as he turned back to channel 6. Fox news was on..._

_"After a touching homecoming, Tony Stark of Stark Industries was quickly admitted into the hospital last night in Washington, D.C.. Stark was found in the desert yesterday afternoon after his close friend Rhodes discovered him..Stark was rushed to emergency once arriving in Washington. Reports say Stark-" He stopped reading the lettering, and turned the volume back up to hear. He didn't know why they kept mentioning Washington. The reporter continued on; " Stark passed yesterday night at around midnight, after going into cardiac arrest. The doctors could not revive him, though he seemed fine before, reports say. More about Stark's accomplishments and memorial service after this break." And it went to the commercial...Tony dropped the remote. Passed? Passed?! Dammit, there's no way he could be dead, he was staring right at the television himself! No, no, this couldn't have been happening. He quickly went back for the remote, changing it to channel 5. An image of a funeral service filled the screen, finally realizing that he was the one in the coffin. His heart raced dangerously, as he stumbled to his feet. " Nooooooooo! " He cried out. Nobody seemed to answer, nobody was there. Not even pepper...and Jarvis seemed to not respond either. And why not? Could this all be true? This all was starting to really haunt him. He moved, making his way through the kitchen; it getting harder and harder to breath. A desperate cry for help did nothing. And as soon as he closed his eyes, a light flashed over him again, and the whole thing seemed to start over. He was yet again looking through the space between his fingers, then a loud noise startled him._

Tony opened his eyes in a flash, finding himself on the floor beside his bed. He was breathing a bit heavily, though not as he thought he was. It was dark, really dark. He let out a small sighed realizing that it had happened, again. He looked up at the ceiling, on his back as he brought his hand to his face, burying his face in it. He couldn't believe it happened again. That dream, that same nightmare that he'd been having for as long as he could remember. It had only been a few weeks since he'd been back from Afghanistan. Usually didn't end up with him on the floor, though occasionally it did. It was nothing new. He took a deep breath, and stood, steadying himself by grasping onto his bed. He looked over at the nigthstand tiredly; his hair in every which way direction. **3: 47 AM **. Seriously? It's only 3:47? Why, the last time he remembered having to look at the clock was 3:14 AM. He again took his hands to his face, and stayed there for a moment,before reaching down and picking the pillow and blanket off the floor,and tossing them onto the bed on his way out. He walked into the bathroom, flipping the light switch on as he went to the mirror. He held onto the sink, looking right into the mirror. He looked terrible, he admitted. His eyes were a bit red, probably for not getting any sleep. And there was a mark on his face, more like a line, that ran through his cheek. A line that showed he had slept on _something _that had left its imprint on him, though he didn't know or care what.

The light was bright, and he squinted at first. Reaching over to the handle, he turned the water on. It was cold, as he ran a hand below the current. He grabbed a wash cloth and ran it underneath the water, then wiped his face with it. There, he was a bit more awake now. Taking a deep breath in, then blowing out, he set the cloth down. He looked at himself again. The line was going away slowly, but at least he didn't look so disgusting. Although his hair was still a mess. He brought his hand up onto his head, and 'combed' his hair with it, a few hairs still sticking out only made him look semi-decent.

"This is great..." he said to the mirror, " you look great, Tony."

It was more of a mumble to himself, and he walked out of the bathroom, flipping the switch off as he exited. Out to the kitchen he went, pouring himself a glass of...wine. The first he saw, he grabbed. It wasn't bad either, it was a nice thing to see first. He took a seat at the table. Not exactly drinking it either. It was dark around the rest of the house, other than his bedroom, meaning that the kitchen was pretty dark. He swished the drink around in his cup, only to find that a voice came from behind him. The light went on in the kitchen, and he turned to see Pepper in the doorway. She gave him an awkward smile, " Midnight drink, Mr. Stark?" she asked him, softly.

He nodded. Though he wasn't exactly _drinking _it, as to swishing it. "Yeah..I wasn't really being that loud now, was I?"

" Of course not." she replied, shaking her head.

He shrugged with one shoulder," ...so, you came to join me then?"

--**ToBeContinued**--

**Hehehee, I didn't know what to say! But I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. The story's just opening up, I have a few ideas up my sleeve, and I'll update this as soon as I get to it. Which will be soon, I promise. :**

**REVIEWS. chapter.**


	2. 3:52 am

**Author: **Wow, I can't believe this measly story got more than one-hundred hits already. Hehe, that makes me happy. Anyways, here's the next chapter. I really appreciate the people who seem interested. I'm going to try and make this story as interesting as possible. And who doesn't love a little PEPPERONY, huh, huh? :p

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**2: 3:52 A.M.**

" What I need is a drink."

* * *

"Join you?" Pepper asked, casually walking over. " No, I don't think so, sir. I just came to check up on everything."

"Well, that's rather nice of you. " he shot her a wobbly smile, " and I think the only way that I can repay you is if.." his voice trailed off, as he reached over to the empty glass beside his, and poured her some. He held it up to her, giving her a face that almost made her feel as if she just _had _to take it. For the well being of herself, and him. Upon taking the drink, she sat in an empty chair, giving him not much more than a simple nodd.

"So.." he continued, as if they had been having a long conversation from the start. " what'd you really come here for? I mean, don't you think it's kind of..unnatural for a young lady, such as yourself, to be up at this hour?" he began to ramble. " I would think you'd like to be tucked in bed...getting beauty sleep, as you might say..N-not that you needed it, or anything." he shook his head. "..because I think-"

"Tony." She shot him a glare, stopping his words right in their tracks. " I..." she didn't know how to handle this situation. Of course, she never imagined herself up then, with her boss at the table, drinking. Drinking the night away, probably. Tony had a case of the 'justonemore's. And she knew it. And he did too. And he knew she knew, and vice versa. " Maybe you should just go back to bed?" she suggested. She didn't take a sip of her drink, and set it down on the table. " You need some rest."

"What I need is a drink." he replied quickly. " Besides, if I went back, I'd just lay there thinking about..well, needing a drink."

"To-Mr. Stark. Honestly.." she had a tone when she spoke, it was kind of firm. " You haven't gotten a good night's sleep since you... got back."Hard thing to talk about. Not like she assumed he did back when he was _out of town._ Which called for even _more _worry. She couldn't help but worry. She worried herself over anything. Let's face it, her boss loved playing the 'wild card'. And she could never help but feel a sort of feeling in the middle of her chest, whenever she'd caught him looking at her. Which was quite often in fact. Tony figured it was because he hadn't seen her face for months, that he always caught himself snapping back to reality- only to find himself motionless, his eyes on her like a hawk. It made her uncomfortable, yes. It made him uncomfortable too.

"Pe- Ms. Potts." he corrected himself, just as she did. " I..appreciate your..concern. But, I don't think I'll be going anywhere soon." he simply gave her a shrug smile afterwards, though the one she returned back wasn't mearly half as meaningful.  
"Sir, you have an interview with Joshua Evans today." she reminded him. She knew she would have to. She only did it everyday for the last week. " And we just can't cancel it, this is the third reschedule we've made with him..."

"Joshua Evans?" he asked, taking a sip of his drink.

"Yes, sir. He's th-"

"Isn't he from that one...um.." he snapped his fingers to remember. "..that one, he's the _Newsweek _guy, right?"

She shook her head. " No, Tony...he's from _The Joshua Evans Show._"

"The...Joshua Evans Show?! Since when did that guy get his own show?" he asked, finishing up his drink.

"I don't know. Listen," she said, cutting off from her other statement quickly. " it's at 8 in the morning, live at the studio. It'll be aired on Channel 8. You know how important this appointment is, Tony."

"I do. I do." he nodded casually, pouring himself another glass.

"And...it's late..early." she said quietly, but sternly. " I don't know what you'd categorize this as. But, I need you in bed right now so ,you can look decent for the show. We've got to be ready and out of here by 6:30. And I know you're going to be very tired- as well I, if we don't go to bed _right now..."_

He sighed, taking one more sip before setting the glass back down. Since his return, Tony had been _different. _Everybody noticed it; Rhodes, Pepper, the press. Anybody in spitting distance, anybody who'd ever heard of him, or googled his name for a report. Anybody who watched the television, could know that he'd changed. Especially since the whole press conference, when he spilled the truth. That conference was probably the most popular thing around. It had been so notable, it had been named _The Press Conference. _Since that fiasco, everybody had known about it. It was a popular post on youtube. Thousands of people watching the video each day; Tony Stark holding the cards in his hand, and saying "..._I am Iron Man."_

He hadn't talked much. He didn't feel like opening out to anybody. Maybe, he did. Though he never showed it. Somehow Pepper found herself knowing that he'd like to, though he just couldn't. She knew him well enough. She knew more about him than he did himself. And they were all eachother had. Rhodes had pressured him about seeing a 'counselor'. To help clear his mind, much needed to be sweeped out. Nobody knew of the horrific things he had seen, heard, and...created.

"Alright, you win Miss Potts." he stood abruptly, tossing the not finished glass into the sink. He smirked, as the glass clanked, though didn't break. He was at a loss of words, really. He turned back at her, nodding softly. He cleared his throat. "Goodnight, Miss Potts."

And with that, disapearing around the corner. She bit her bottom lip softly, taking a quick swig of the drink he had poured her, before gently setting it into the sink, and heading towards her bed she was staying that night.

* * *

_Knock, knock. _"Tony!" Pepper called out from behind the bedroom door. It was only 5, and already she was dressed up formaly, and ready to go to 'work'. "Tony.." she knocked again.

He mumbled something she couldn't understand, and figuring it was fine to walk in, she did. She carefully held the knob tightly, as she turned it, opening the door slowly. She peeked inside. It was rather dark. She could hardly see. "Tony..time to get up."

He moved the pillow over his head, and pressed down on it lightly so he couldn't hear. "Jarvis, how about some light?" Pepper asked. Jarvis returned her answer in a matter of seconds. _"Of course, Miss Potts." _The lights turned on, brightly. She saw the bed. The figure of a person beneath the sheets, and the pillow. " Tony.." she said, walking over and snatching his pillow. He groaned, shielding his eyes from the light. "Up. Now."

Ugh, how he hated the mornings. Though it wasn't much to get him up. He was used to it. Still, it's not like he enjoyed it. He rubbed his eyes a moment. The peeped one eye open, followed by the next. "Hmm. Morning, Miss Potts."

"Yes, morning Tony. That means you get up now.." she layed an outfit out on the side of the bed, and walked out, shutting the door behind her. She was like his mother, even getting him dressed. She went into the kitchen, leaving his coffee there, as usual. He sighed, looking over then pushing himself into a sitting position on the edge of the bed. "Time, Jarvis?"

_"5:02, sir." _Tony nodded. " Thanks." He stood up, heading for the bathroom to shower quickly. _"Of course, sir."_

* * *

**_Author:_ **My much anticipated wait to write another chapter for you guys. Yay! Hehe, I hope the story will unwind itself in the following chapters. Anyways, I just hope you liked it. I gurantee some more fluff later on. But you have to wait for that. Reviews make chapters ...until next time.


	3. 8:07 am

**Author: **Hey you guys, thanks for reviewing. Though I guess this story isn't going so well? Not many of you seem to like it. I get hits, but I'd please like reviews, that way I know you didn't think you just read a bunch of crap...let me know if you want more. Here, I hope you like this next chapter. I'm going to be writing a lot more, and for the next week uploads won't be as common. I'm going to write some chapters for each story of mine, then start uploading.Please remember to let me know what you thought of this chapter! :D

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**3: 8:07 A.M.**

"Don't try to be modest, Tony."

* * *

"And we're back, to The Joshua Evans Show! Here talking with billionaire genious, Tony Stark also known as Iron Man!." Joshua said to the cameras, as the studio audience cheered for Tony, who was in the chair beside his. Joshua was a good-looking man, (A/N: not as good looking as Tony though :) with shortish brown hair, and a casual suit, if it's possible.

Tony smiled, as they returned from the commercial break. He looked over at Joshua Evans, who honestly, was a freaky asshole-ish interviewer, who didn't deserve his own show. But, he was always so popular who giving out the truth and such. He was like the Simon for television interviews. Everybody loved to hate him.

"So, Mr. Stark..." Joshua began. Tony forced a smile. Honestly, he'd hated this guy a while. After announcing that he was stopping the weapon making, Joshua Evans' show was one of the first and most harsh reports out there. " Tell us, tell us, how are you?"

"I'm pretty good. Thanks" he nodded.  
"Yeah?" Joshua nodded as well, and smiled.  
"Yeah."

'Alright"..Joshua laughed. "Well, why don't you tell us a little about the 'press conference'. I mean, really. We've all been extremely curious and all. And you've only said so much." he said, looking at Tony as he shook his head to move the loose strand of hair from his face. "And we're all curious on how Ironman was created."

"Uhh." Tony began, searching for what to say. " Well, you know..I've said this probably a million times before, but uh, I've had a chance..to..c-change my point of view. I guess." He didn't really know what to say. He swared, if Joshua said anything about him, he'd punch him.

Tony hadn't remembered who this guy was, or what was the show, until they arrived at the studios. Tony looked over to the side, where Pepper was, softly smiling at him to continue. "Uh.." he tried to remember where he was going with this. But, she was distracting. She looked good. She looked really good. And he hadn't realized that he'd been staring off at her for some time now. Not like Tony ever got nervous before, but for some reason he wanted to make sure he watched what he was saying. Anything misinterpreted could and would leave Joshua Evans with another 'riveting' top story.

"Tony..." Joshua began, Tony biting his lip as he looked back at him.  
"Yeah, right. " he said, getting back to topic. "Um, where was I? Oh, yes..point of views. "  
Joshua nodded, listening carefully.

"I saw...young Americans dying,because of what I did. I know what I said at the first press conference after I got back sort of...ohhh, I don't know...rattled everything." Joshua nodded again as he continued ," but I finally understood, you know? This was something I was doing wrong. I..I knew that there was more to be done than just building weapons.."

Before he could go on, Joshua decided to but-in. "And that's where IronMan comes in.."  
"Yeah, well. First 'IronMan' was just a means for escape.." he said quietly.

They hadn't known much about his escape. Probably nothing more than he made it out some how.  
"And how does Iroman tie in with all this? How'd you...how'd you escape?" he asked curiously.

The thoughts thinking back to his time spent in Afghanistan, weren't pleasent. "Ironman...uhm. See, after they'd taken me.. they were forcing me to ..build a bomb. The Jericho, the one I was there presenting..." his voice trailed off at the end of his sentence, " but, I figured we wouldn't get out of there unless we did someth-"

"Who's _we?"_ Joshua asked suddenly. Tony stopped and gave him a look. Right, he'd said 'we'.  
At first, he stayed quiet, but he hesitantly began after a few moments. "Uhm, we. As in, me and Yinsen."  
This was primarily the first time Yinsen had ever been introduced to his story. And Joshua gave him a confused look. Looks like another good headload of information the great Tony Stark was going to give away.

"Yinsen?" Joshua asked, confused.

"Yeah." Tony stopped, a licked his lips a little, before going on.

"Yinsen was there. He was the one who saved me. "

Joshua nodded, letting him continue. "And..he was there helping me create the missle, that they thought we were making.."

"How'd the whole.. idea come up between you guys?"

" Well.." he sighed softly to himself, " first of all, we knew that even if I created the missle, they'd never let us go, like they said they would. So, I drew up the plans. I wanted to get out of there, and I wanted him to get out of there. He told me he had a family to uh, get back to. And I promised him that we'd follow the plan and make it out.."

"So, you and Yinsen began constructing this...ironsuit..while everybody else thought it was just the jericho.." Joshua said, in an questioning kind of tone. Tony nodded.

"Exactly."

Joshua grinned. "Interesting. And they never saw it coming, did they. So, you guys finished the suit..and then what happened?"

What was this, like 20 questions or something? " After the suit was finished, we used it t-"

"Who was in the suit?" he didn't let Tony finish.

Tony bit his lip. This guy was seriously the peppiest, most annoying, man right now. "I was."

"And Yinsen was...?"

"Yinsen was..." he didn't how to explain this. "Not in the suit."He didn't want to talk about Yinsen. He'd never come up before. He was his friend, he'd saved his life. And he wanted to make it out together. Seeing his friend die like that hurt him so much. And he didn't want to relive anything. It'd had taken so long to coax Tony's thoughts out of the dark, but it seemed like Joshua Evans could do it amazingly. Tony felt a sick feeling in his stomach, remembering the cave, and the attack, and every single night sleeping on a hard cot. He swallowed, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, nervously. It'd be horrible for him to start to break down on stage...on live television...

But he felt if they kept on any longer, the little boy inside of him would bust loose.

His voice sounded a bit shaky, but he quickly cleared his throat to cover it.

" I see." Joshua said, a bit confused. " So...what ever happened to Yinsen?"

Okay, that was it. Tony could almost not take it anymore. "Yinsen...went back to see his family,a fter all." He said, licking his lips again. He didn't need to say more. People could interpret that whatever way they wanted, but he knew what he meant. By the look on her face, Pepper knew it too. "It was...part of the plan."

"Moving on." Joshua said quickly, right after Tony finished his sentence. He swore that man had a bad case of ADD or something. Tony sighed softly, looking out at all the people. "So. You built this thing in a cave, and managed to escape. And once you got home, even though everyonw said you were crazy...I knew you were up to something. I just knew it."

Of course he knew it. As Tony recalled turning on the television, Joshua had rambled on about the possibilities, all of them completely stupid.

"You perfected this thing and became a superhero."

"Well, I woul-"

"Don't try to be modest, Tony." Joshua replied quickly, again before Tony could finish.

Tony went quiet, then laughed nervously.

Joshua put on his stupid wide grin, and looked to the cameras. "A very interesting chat with Tony Stark everybody! We'll be back right after this commercial break. Don't you go anywhere! More to come on this man's story after this.."

a/n: gee, im sorry that was kinda dumb. i didnt know what to say and i was in a hurry to write another chapter for you guys. this is the most popular story of mine after all. anyways, i wrote this in like 15 minutes, and i was lazy to go back and check it over. so if you see anything wrong let me know. but uh, yeah. theres another chapter, i hope you liked it. review it. and uh, i promise you the next chapters will be better. :)


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